Pentagon Wants Loving Chat-Bot to Calm Troops’ Kids

Now that the Predator drone has convinced the U.S. military of the power of killer robots, the Pentagon has put up a call for a loving, family-oriented artificial intelligence. The Department of Defense is soliciting proposals from small businesses for a computer program that would replicate troops serving abroad, during phone conversations and video conferences with their families.

The program, first reported by Outguessing the Machineand later covered by Slate, is billed as a "Virtual Dialogue Application for Families of Deployed Service Members. It’s meant to address the strain on children caused by long deployments — by using the same kind of automated voice recognition software that airlines, banks, and phone companies all use to keep us from real customer service. The program would play pre-recorded messages from service members when prompted by phrases like "I love you" or "I miss you mommy/daddy." The software would be specifically aimed at young children, although the exact age range has yet to be determined.

However, Peter Jensen, former Ruane Professor of Child Psychiatry at Columbia University, researched the effects of military deployment on children, and he believes that program might be a bit misguided.

"The biggest problem with deployment isn’t the deployed person, but the spouse. If the spouse is able to cope well, then the kid will do pretty well," said Jensen, "If you really want to help the kid, put a support group together for the mom."

While the solicitation notes that "the child should be able to have a simulated conversation with a parent about generic, everyday topics,"
it also emphasizes that this is not so a replacement for actual conversation, but more akin to a multimedia photograph. But Jensen believes the interactivity provided by the program wouldn’t engage children any more than a regular pre-recorded message.

Similarly, Catherine Caldwell-Harris, an associate professor of psychology at Boston University who was asked to consult on the project, wrote on her blog that the whole idea was a "great background-story for a dystopian novel," but also noted that any money the military spends on helping families is a good thing.

The military spending money on machines to help families and tell children they love them? This is not the future Sarah Connor warned me about.

– Stuart Fox is a freelance writer. His work has appeared in Popular
Science and Scientific American Mind. This is his first post for Danger Room.